NCMC assistant Hudlow succeeds friend Bounds as head coach
By PAUL STURM, C-T Sports Editor
What a year ago was to be veteran organization member Caleb Bounds’ record-tying third season as head coach of the Chillicothe Mudcats summer college-level baseball team instead this summer becomes the first for a long-time friend of Bounds, North Central Missouri College assistant coach Tyler Hudlow.
NCMC teammates nearly a year ago and friends ever since, the Missouri natives – Hudlow from Harrisburg, near Columbia, and Bounds from Savannah – have been in almost-daily contact since February, Hudlow reports, when Bounds had to set aside his plans to school the Fish a third time when he accepted a full-time, year-round coaching position with Illinois’ Rock Valley College.
Having already planned to have Hudlow be his Mudcats assistant, Bounds encouraged team officials to turn the reins over to the Pirates assistant, given their similar stylistic and strategic approach to the summer, wood-bat game, and they agreed.
After graduation from Harrisburg High School in 2011, Hudlow played at NCMC for two years before going on to Fayette’s Central Methodist University to complete his playing career. He reports he mostly played second base on the college level, but also spent some time at third.
Once out of college, where he’d done some youth-team coaching at nearby Columbia, he returned to the community college at Trenton as an assistant to long-time coach Donnie Hillerman six years ago.
For three summers, he and fellow NCMC assistant Ryan Suttenfield led a college-level, wood-bat team in the St. Louis-area’s Lewis and Clark League, winning one league title and being runnerup the other two years.
When former Mudcats pitcher (and career wins leader) Bounds got the team’s head coaching post in 2018, he sought Hudlow out as an assistant, the new coach recounts, but Hudlow already had committed to working that summer with the Perfect Game organization, a national scouting and player development firm which sponsors youth and high school-age teams in summer tournaments and bills itself as the world’s largest baseball scouting service. He worked with Perfect Game each of the next two years, as well.
Given his association with NCMC at neighboring Trenton, where the Mudcats traditionally play a game each summer and will do so again on June 9, Hudlow says he’s quite well-versed in the team he now leads on the field.
“I’ve always kept a close eye on them,” he shared Wednesday. “… I’ve always wanted to be a part of the Mudcats, being so close to it, but it’s never worked out until this year.”
“I know it’s a solid league,” he continued. “I know the fans are always good. Just here around Trenton, once it was announced (in February) that I was taking over, multiple people came up to me and said they were super-excited for the season to start and that they were excited that I was taking over (as head coach) and they couldn’t wait to come out to a game.”
Comfortably inheriting the roster base Bounds already had arranged through the fall and early winter, Hudlow now is days away from his first game as the 12th head coach in team history.
Following the COVID-19-forced 2020 season cancellation, the Mudcats – only in their 19th season now, rather than their 20th – are slated to host the Clarinda (Iowa) A’s this coming Wednesday evening in a matchup of the MINK League’s two most-senior members.
A roster of about 35 players, a number of whom will be “commuter” pitchers who only are with the club on days they’re scheduled to throw in a game, has been assembled, according to Hudlow and team officials.
The new coach describes himself as “offensively, I’m a very aggressive coach. I love stealing bases, being aggressive on the basepaths.
“The Mudcats this summer will play to those strengths. … The team is built with guys being fast. There’ll also be some guys that have some power.”
As for the moundsmen, Hudlow comments, “We have a lot of guys who have not thrown a lot of college innings because they’re young. I think they’re going to be really willing to throw a lot of innings, which is nice, where I don’t have innings restrictions on guys.”
Avoiding handing out free bases on walks and hit batsmen – a problem which doomed Bounds’ first squad in 2018 to sustain the only losing season in Mudcats’ history – will be a point of emphasis, the new coach underscores.
“As long as they’re throwing strikes, I think we have a solid staff and we have a lot of guys that are willing to do whatever the team needs and go out and compete,” Hudlow shared with the C-T.
By PAUL STURM, C-T Sports Editor
What a year ago was to be veteran organization member Caleb Bounds’ record-tying third season as head coach of the Chillicothe Mudcats summer college-level baseball team instead this summer becomes the first for a long-time friend of Bounds, North Central Missouri College assistant coach Tyler Hudlow.
NCMC teammates nearly a year ago and friends ever since, the Missouri natives – Hudlow from Harrisburg, near Columbia, and Bounds from Savannah – have been in almost-daily contact since February, Hudlow reports, when Bounds had to set aside his plans to school the Fish a third time when he accepted a full-time, year-round coaching position with Illinois’ Rock Valley College.
Having already planned to have Hudlow be his Mudcats assistant, Bounds encouraged team officials to turn the reins over to the Pirates assistant, given their similar stylistic and strategic approach to the summer, wood-bat game, and they agreed.
After graduation from Harrisburg High School in 2011, Hudlow played at NCMC for two years before going on to Fayette’s Central Methodist University to complete his playing career. He reports he mostly played second base on the college level, but also spent some time at third.
Once out of college, where he’d done some youth-team coaching at nearby Columbia, he returned to the community college at Trenton as an assistant to long-time coach Donnie Hillerman six years ago.
For three summers, he and fellow NCMC assistant Ryan Suttenfield led a college-level, wood-bat team in the St. Louis-area’s Lewis and Clark League, winning one league title and being runnerup the other two years.
When former Mudcats pitcher (and career wins leader) Bounds got the team’s head coaching post in 2018, he sought Hudlow out as an assistant, the new coach recounts, but Hudlow already had committed to working that summer with the Perfect Game organization, a national scouting and player development firm which sponsors youth and high school-age teams in summer tournaments and bills itself as the world’s largest baseball scouting service. He worked with Perfect Game each of the next two years, as well.
Given his association with NCMC at neighboring Trenton, where the Mudcats traditionally play a game each summer and will do so again on June 9, Hudlow says he’s quite well-versed in the team he now leads on the field.
“I’ve always kept a close eye on them,” he shared Wednesday. “… I’ve always wanted to be a part of the Mudcats, being so close to it, but it’s never worked out until this year.”
“I know it’s a solid league,” he continued. “I know the fans are always good. Just here around Trenton, once it was announced (in February) that I was taking over, multiple people came up to me and said they were super-excited for the season to start and that they were excited that I was taking over (as head coach) and they couldn’t wait to come out to a game.”
Comfortably inheriting the roster base Bounds already had arranged through the fall and early winter, Hudlow now is days away from his first game as the 12th head coach in team history.
Following the COVID-19-forced 2020 season cancellation, the Mudcats – only in their 19th season now, rather than their 20th – are slated to host the Clarinda (Iowa) A’s this coming Wednesday evening in a matchup of the MINK League’s two most-senior members.
A roster of about 35 players, a number of whom will be “commuter” pitchers who only are with the club on days they’re scheduled to throw in a game, has been assembled, according to Hudlow and team officials.
The new coach describes himself as “offensively, I’m a very aggressive coach. I love stealing bases, being aggressive on the basepaths.
“The Mudcats this summer will play to those strengths. … The team is built with guys being fast. There’ll also be some guys that have some power.”
As for the moundsmen, Hudlow comments, “We have a lot of guys who have not thrown a lot of college innings because they’re young. I think they’re going to be really willing to throw a lot of innings, which is nice, where I don’t have innings restrictions on guys.”
Avoiding handing out free bases on walks and hit batsmen – a problem which doomed Bounds’ first squad in 2018 to sustain the only losing season in Mudcats’ history – will be a point of emphasis, the new coach underscores.
“As long as they’re throwing strikes, I think we have a solid staff and we have a lot of guys that are willing to do whatever the team needs and go out and compete,” Hudlow shared with the C-T.
Todd Czinege named first team All Big East
Todd Czinege was named All Big East this past season. Todd, a former Mudcat, is seen here throwing out the first pitch at opening night of the Mudcat season.
Click on the link to read about Todd and his year at Villanova.
http://www.villanova.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/052516aaa.html
Click on the link to read about Todd and his year at Villanova.
http://www.villanova.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/052516aaa.html
Caleb Joseph second ex-Mudcat in majors
By PAUL STURM, Constitution-Tribune Sports Editor
After waiting 12 years from their inception to have its first former member appear in a Major League Baseball game, the Chillicothe Mudcats on May 7, 2014, got their second alumnus to the big leagues in two months.
Catcher Caleb Joseph, the local, college-level, summer club’s primary receiver in the club's MINK League title-winning 2006 season after appearing in 18 games the season before, had his contract purchased by the Orioles from their Triple-A farm club at Norfolk, Va.
He immediately made his MLB debut as Baltimore's starting catcher May 8 at Tampa Bay. He caught the entire game, which the Orioles won 4-3, while going hitless in three at-bats with two groundouts to third and a fly out to right field. He went 0 for four while starting the next night, as well, another game won by Baltimore.
Joseph could be considered the first "true" ex-Mudcat to play in the majors.
Pitcher Mike Mariot, called up to the Kansas City Royals in mid-April, played with the Mudcats only in two postseason games following the 2009 regular season. He had spent the regular summer season that year with the now-defunct Beatrice (Neb.) Bruins. Mariot never appeared in a game in Chillicothe as a Mudcat, although he did play here with the Nebraska team.
Joseph, on the other hand, spent two summers in Chillicothe, hosted both years by John and Julie Barnes.
The Franklin, Tenn., product, who attended Lipscomb University in his home state, actually was just out of high school in his first year with the Mudcats in 2005.
Sharing time behind the dish with two other, older catchers, Joseph batted a respectable .289 in 45 at-bats and threw out four of 10 would-be opposing base stealers, a strong statistic.
Returning the next season as the team’s top receiver, he again hit decently with the wood bat – a .280 batting average with 14 runs batted in in 34 games and, showing growing strength, eight extra-base hits
His play helped the Mudcats win the league crown for the first time, qualifying them for their first National Baseball Congress World Series tournament appearance. Two losses in that event left the club, led by Keith Vorhoff, with a 27-13 final record, still the team’s best ever mark.
Defensively, Joseph remained solid in ’06, gunning down 13 of 33 would-be base thieves while helping guide the pitching staff to a solid 3.55 composite earned run average.
After playing parts of seven seasons in the Orioles' system after being a seventh-round draft choice by the organization in 2007, Joseph seemingly had stalled out in his pro career a couple of years ago.
However, a resurgent season at Double-A Bowie last season, when he hit .299 with some extra-base pop, and a good stretch in winter ball in the Venezuelan League last winter, paid off yesterday when he was Baltimore's choice to fill the void behind the plate created when a shoulder injury to Orioles starting catcher Matt Wieters left Wieters not well enough to catch.
Seeking a reliable defensive receiver with some veteran savvy, even if at the minor league level, Baltimore turned to Joseph, who had been to spring training with them as a "depth" catcher the past few years.
“He’s kind of been a steady climber,” highly-respected Orioles manager “Buck” Showalter told The Baltimore Sun in an article posted on that paper’s website late last night. “He really wants this. A lot of guys, this gets tough to keep grinding through and improving. … Caleb has gotten better and better and better.
“The one common thing, pitchers really like throwing to him. [He is] very engaged in the game. I think he’ll be a quick study with advanced reports.”
Ironically, Joseph's recall to the Orioles comes only a week before Baltimore is scheduled to visit Kansas City for a 4-game series, starting Thursday, May 15.
Although it is possible either could be sent back to the minors before then, particularly depending on how Wieters' shoulder responds to being off from catching for a few days, that series could find both ex-Mudcats players in the same big league ballpark and potentially facing each other in a major league game.
--
Paul Sturm
Sports Editor
Constitution-Tribune
After waiting 12 years from their inception to have its first former member appear in a Major League Baseball game, the Chillicothe Mudcats on May 7, 2014, got their second alumnus to the big leagues in two months.
Catcher Caleb Joseph, the local, college-level, summer club’s primary receiver in the club's MINK League title-winning 2006 season after appearing in 18 games the season before, had his contract purchased by the Orioles from their Triple-A farm club at Norfolk, Va.
He immediately made his MLB debut as Baltimore's starting catcher May 8 at Tampa Bay. He caught the entire game, which the Orioles won 4-3, while going hitless in three at-bats with two groundouts to third and a fly out to right field. He went 0 for four while starting the next night, as well, another game won by Baltimore.
Joseph could be considered the first "true" ex-Mudcat to play in the majors.
Pitcher Mike Mariot, called up to the Kansas City Royals in mid-April, played with the Mudcats only in two postseason games following the 2009 regular season. He had spent the regular summer season that year with the now-defunct Beatrice (Neb.) Bruins. Mariot never appeared in a game in Chillicothe as a Mudcat, although he did play here with the Nebraska team.
Joseph, on the other hand, spent two summers in Chillicothe, hosted both years by John and Julie Barnes.
The Franklin, Tenn., product, who attended Lipscomb University in his home state, actually was just out of high school in his first year with the Mudcats in 2005.
Sharing time behind the dish with two other, older catchers, Joseph batted a respectable .289 in 45 at-bats and threw out four of 10 would-be opposing base stealers, a strong statistic.
Returning the next season as the team’s top receiver, he again hit decently with the wood bat – a .280 batting average with 14 runs batted in in 34 games and, showing growing strength, eight extra-base hits
His play helped the Mudcats win the league crown for the first time, qualifying them for their first National Baseball Congress World Series tournament appearance. Two losses in that event left the club, led by Keith Vorhoff, with a 27-13 final record, still the team’s best ever mark.
Defensively, Joseph remained solid in ’06, gunning down 13 of 33 would-be base thieves while helping guide the pitching staff to a solid 3.55 composite earned run average.
After playing parts of seven seasons in the Orioles' system after being a seventh-round draft choice by the organization in 2007, Joseph seemingly had stalled out in his pro career a couple of years ago.
However, a resurgent season at Double-A Bowie last season, when he hit .299 with some extra-base pop, and a good stretch in winter ball in the Venezuelan League last winter, paid off yesterday when he was Baltimore's choice to fill the void behind the plate created when a shoulder injury to Orioles starting catcher Matt Wieters left Wieters not well enough to catch.
Seeking a reliable defensive receiver with some veteran savvy, even if at the minor league level, Baltimore turned to Joseph, who had been to spring training with them as a "depth" catcher the past few years.
“He’s kind of been a steady climber,” highly-respected Orioles manager “Buck” Showalter told The Baltimore Sun in an article posted on that paper’s website late last night. “He really wants this. A lot of guys, this gets tough to keep grinding through and improving. … Caleb has gotten better and better and better.
“The one common thing, pitchers really like throwing to him. [He is] very engaged in the game. I think he’ll be a quick study with advanced reports.”
Ironically, Joseph's recall to the Orioles comes only a week before Baltimore is scheduled to visit Kansas City for a 4-game series, starting Thursday, May 15.
Although it is possible either could be sent back to the minors before then, particularly depending on how Wieters' shoulder responds to being off from catching for a few days, that series could find both ex-Mudcats players in the same big league ballpark and potentially facing each other in a major league game.
--
Paul Sturm
Sports Editor
Constitution-Tribune